ORGANIZATION

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is the agency charged with implementing the State's public school laws and the State Board of Education's policies and procedures governing pre-kindergarten through 12th grade public education. The elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction heads the Department and functions under the policy direction of the State Board of Education.

The agency has approximately 530 positions providing leadership and service to local public school districts and schools in the areas of curriculum and instruction, accountability, finance, teacher and administrator preparation and licensing, professional development and school business support and operations.

The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) develops the Standard Course of Study which describes the subjects and course content that should be taught in North Carolina public schools and develops the assessments and accountability model used to evaluate school and district success. The DPI administers annual public school funds totaling approximately $7 billion in state and federal funds and licenses the approximately 100,000 teachers and administrators serving in public schools.

The DPI's primary offices are in Raleigh, NC, with three regional alternative licensing centers in Charlotte, Fayetteville and Nashville. The state agency works closely with nine Regional Education Service Alliances/Consortia across the state as well as directly with the state's 115 local education agencies.